Having spent the best part of the last month on holiday I've plenty to blog about, sadly I'm a bit short on the photo front given my camera was nicked from our house; but I won't dwell on that!
Mel's parents arrived end of March, we had a full itinerary set up on tripit.com and wasted no time getting into it. Long walks around Sydney, a trip down to Melbourne with drive on the Great Ocean Road and a night in the Blue Mountains we're highlights with plenty of nice dinners and a good few beers along the way too.
I have to admit to being surprised and astonished at the beauty of the Great Ocean Road and Blue Mountains, it's often hard to get excited about other countries natural beauty coming from NZ but it did not disappoint - there we're even some friendly Aussies to chat with here and there too! My fav accommodation on the trip has to be in Apollo Bay where our place was within spitting distance to the ocean boasting empty beaches and some near perfect waves.
My return to work was short lived (1.5 weeks) before setting off again to NZ on a trip based around two Super 14 Hurricanes matches in Wellington. Mel stayed at home in Sydney while I 'swanned off' (Mel's words not mine) to NZ for a week. I spent a lot of time with family and friends and two nights away fishing (unsuccessfully) with my mate Tavis. It was awesome to catch up with everyone again.
Now it's back to work until Bruce arrives in July when I'll take yet more time off to go surfing (I mean look after him)!
Cheers
Tim
Showing posts with label new zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new zealand. Show all posts
Friday, 8 May 2009
Friday, 23 January 2009
Christmas Day
It was SO good to be able to spend Christmas with my family in NZ this (now last) year!
We started the day with mothers home-cooked eggs benedict which was pretty bloody good and washed down with some champagne. We then moved on to my sisters place (just round the corner) where a full-on turkey lunch awaited us. Kelly made some pudding (pics on my Flickr photostream if we're connected as friends or family) which was like a layered cake thing with cream, puff pastry and some chocolate - it was pretty darn good too!
The highlight of the day for everyone was watching Ella (my new niece) open her presents and just be generally entertaining like kids are.
Last but not least was another turkey dinner at my Nan and aunt Jodi's house. I've not had much of a chance to spend time with them over the past few years so it was nice to have a good catch up with everyone, enjoy some good food and be entertained by Brynn, Jodi and Shane's new baby boy (who is a cool chap to hang out with already!).
Another highlight was watching Nigel open a 1997 bottle of red, it took a while to talk him into it but once open we had no trouble getting through it - as you do!
The idea for this next Christmas day of 2009 is for Mel and I to host in Sydney. It will be awesome if mum, Kelly, Nigel and Ella can make it!
Bonza!
Tim
We started the day with mothers home-cooked eggs benedict which was pretty bloody good and washed down with some champagne. We then moved on to my sisters place (just round the corner) where a full-on turkey lunch awaited us. Kelly made some pudding (pics on my Flickr photostream if we're connected as friends or family) which was like a layered cake thing with cream, puff pastry and some chocolate - it was pretty darn good too!
The highlight of the day for everyone was watching Ella (my new niece) open her presents and just be generally entertaining like kids are.
Last but not least was another turkey dinner at my Nan and aunt Jodi's house. I've not had much of a chance to spend time with them over the past few years so it was nice to have a good catch up with everyone, enjoy some good food and be entertained by Brynn, Jodi and Shane's new baby boy (who is a cool chap to hang out with already!).
Another highlight was watching Nigel open a 1997 bottle of red, it took a while to talk him into it but once open we had no trouble getting through it - as you do!
The idea for this next Christmas day of 2009 is for Mel and I to host in Sydney. It will be awesome if mum, Kelly, Nigel and Ella can make it!
Bonza!
Tim
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Shoe fence in Tutira
OK, I'm on catch up here. Two posts in a week and I'm still blogging about Oct! Quick mention that NZ has just beaten Australia in the Rugby League World Cup, we are now world champions at league for the first time ever.
Mel and I took a trip to NZ in Oct, the main purpose was to see our good friends Steve and Sara get married in Gisborne. The trip started with a NZ$200 fine for forgetting to eat the banana and apple in my bag before entering Wellington airport - I commend NZ for having such strict rules and for not letting people like me convince them to waive the fine, it's how we manage to keep NZ so clean of foreign parasites and disease.
We drove around 1200 km in total during the trip which sounds a lot for only a week but it's always a pleasure for me to drive back in NZ. The roads are always quiet and the scenery spectacular, it reminds me how lucky I am for being a Kiwi. Along the way I spotted the fence in the picture, I have no idea what all the shoes people have left on it means but Tutira, NZ must get more than it's fair share of cars stopping just to check it out (or perhaps just me)!
Not only was it great to see friends from the UK at Steve and Sara Rofe's wedding in Gisborne but to catch up with family in Wellington was extra special with the recent arrival of my first blood niece Ella - and what a beautiful little girl she is. We even found some time to go fishing with mad Geof, Tavis and Sarah - always a lot of fun with those guys and we landed 2 fish one of which we ate a few hours later at a BBQ with Tav and his family!
It's nice the flight to NZ is only 3 hours now, all the more reason to spend more time over there while we can. We'll be back for Christmas - but hopefully more blog posts to come before then!
Go the Kiwi cricket team, beating the Aussies is too much fun to stop now!!
Tim
Mel and I took a trip to NZ in Oct, the main purpose was to see our good friends Steve and Sara get married in Gisborne. The trip started with a NZ$200 fine for forgetting to eat the banana and apple in my bag before entering Wellington airport - I commend NZ for having such strict rules and for not letting people like me convince them to waive the fine, it's how we manage to keep NZ so clean of foreign parasites and disease.
We drove around 1200 km in total during the trip which sounds a lot for only a week but it's always a pleasure for me to drive back in NZ. The roads are always quiet and the scenery spectacular, it reminds me how lucky I am for being a Kiwi. Along the way I spotted the fence in the picture, I have no idea what all the shoes people have left on it means but Tutira, NZ must get more than it's fair share of cars stopping just to check it out (or perhaps just me)!
Not only was it great to see friends from the UK at Steve and Sara Rofe's wedding in Gisborne but to catch up with family in Wellington was extra special with the recent arrival of my first blood niece Ella - and what a beautiful little girl she is. We even found some time to go fishing with mad Geof, Tavis and Sarah - always a lot of fun with those guys and we landed 2 fish one of which we ate a few hours later at a BBQ with Tav and his family!
It's nice the flight to NZ is only 3 hours now, all the more reason to spend more time over there while we can. We'll be back for Christmas - but hopefully more blog posts to come before then!
Go the Kiwi cricket team, beating the Aussies is too much fun to stop now!!
Tim
Sunday, 12 October 2008
NZ warriors so close and yet so far away
It was a while ago now but I've been busy, the NZ Warriors rugby league team made the semi finals of the NRL (National Rugby League) competition in Australia this year but came up against Manly - by far the best team this season. Not only did I go along to the game with a mate Ian, I'd decided the week before to grow a beard in support of retiring captain Ruben Wiki and the whole team. I created a group on facebook for the purpose of sharing the Ruben Wiki beard grow occasion and a few mates from around the world joined in and uploaded photos of their beard growing achievements. If you search for 'Ruben Wiki beard grow' you'll no doubt stumble upon our efforts!
Anyway Manly easily beat the NZ Warriors and have now gone on to easily beat Melbourne Storm in the grand final - I was a Manly supporter well before the NZ Warriors entered the competition so I was happy to see them win too!
Who knows what we'll decide to grow for next!
Tim
Anyway Manly easily beat the NZ Warriors and have now gone on to easily beat Melbourne Storm in the grand final - I was a Manly supporter well before the NZ Warriors entered the competition so I was happy to see them win too!
Who knows what we'll decide to grow for next!
Tim
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